Arab Atheists

Information

A place to discuss philosophy and its impact on politics and the social life among Arabs around the world.
The group is open for atheists, agnostic, and secular believers for any open-minded discussion.
Posts can be in both English and Arabic.

Nice to meet you Sufian, good to see some people are still around! I know what you mean regarding politics. I'm afraid of what I'm seeing in some places with these Islamic parties though, to be honest.

I am sorry to hear of your unfortunate circumstances. I really wish there was more I could do to help you. I can only offer my advice. Besides the advice I just gave on the philosophical level, I don't know what advice I could give to you on a personal level. I can only offer my sympathies. Hopefully that will offer you some small comfort.

I know it must be very difficult, not to mention dangerous, to harbor different beliefs from your society. You are obviously a very smart person, brighter than the people around you, and it is a shame that those others have any effect in diminishing the light of your inner power. It must be very demotivating. I know it would make me despair as well if I could not share my true self with the people I most wanted to. I think Morocco is probably not the best place for you to be. Actually, I have myself been looking for a place where only atheists could go, a whole society where we wouldn't feel out of place. I don't know of any such place. Maybe we can all work together to make that place a reality some day. Until then, maybe you can go somewhere more tolerant. I don't know if that is possible for you though. If not, just keep coming in here and you will always have somewhere where you are welcome!

Hey all, I am not an Arab but have just spent the last year and a half in Saudi Arabia. During this time I also had the pleasure of visiting many other places in the Middle East. I lived in Turkey for 2-3 months, and have traveled also to Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE (Dubai), and Oman. I lived in Riyadh most of this time however. I tell anyone whenever it comes up that every place in the Middle East is BEAUTIFUL, except unfortunately Riyadh. You may know that it is in the middle of the desert, it is HOT, dry, dusty, dead, and a really hard place to live. Everywhere else I have been is so beautiful and I would love to go back some day, so long as I never have to see Riyadh again for as long as I live. I hope I am not insulting any Riyadhians here.

Anyway it is nice to know that there are people from the region who are capable of rising above the religious atmosphere, I am well aware of how intolerant and authoritarian the region can be. For those of you who have decided that religion of any kind is wrong but are still looking for what is right out there, I offer my help.

I respond here to anyone who would listen, but with the last responder in mind, "idcollapse". I have a colorful history, born in the US to unmarried Christians, raised Jewish, and (somewhat regrettably) married to a Turkish Muslim. At the age of 12 I had already figured out that I was going to be an atheist for the rest of my life. I owe this to the fact that the culture I was raised in was not deeply authoriarian and I was free and even encouraged to think for myself and come to my own conclusions. I am saddened that this is far from the case for most other people, and I recognize this as one of the luckiest things to have happened to me.

So I have, from a very young age, questioned and thought deeply on philosophical issues. I have come to a great many conclusions (I hope to finish the book I have strated one day), but I would share some few with this group.

1. The alternative to religion is not atheism in the limited sense, but philosophy as a whole. There are a great many religious philosophers, but philosophy can be done by anyone and is best done by atheists. The world of philosophy is a great one, the greatest there is in my opinion. If you haven't been exposed to much philosophy or don't even really know what it is, get yourself educated! I would be glad to answer any of your questions, time permitting. I have studied philosophy and have a BA from Rutgers, so although I am not a PhD I am not a novice either. Plus I have my own beliefs which I think are very important as well.

2. Science is not necessarily opposed to religion. It says a lot that religion often conflicts with religion (and which are you going to believe, the opinions of the uninformed or that which you can test for your very self?), but it does not necessarily have to do so. The choice between science and religion is, therefore, a false one. You can be a scientist and still be religious, but it probably makes it harder.

3. Reason is opposed to faith, but it is also not the complete alternative. If you are looking to replace your faith with something more meaningful to you, reason by itself is a poor substitute. You need more. You need something "spiritual", something which really motivates you and fulfills your deepest desires.

What I would suggest, what I think I will be writing my book about, is that there is such a thing to look for to find purpose and meaning in your life, and this thing is nothing more or less than having a positive self-image. This includes (but is not limited to) having high self-esteem, self-pride, self-respect, self-worth, and self-image. It means listening to your own conscience, and being true to your self. And this is best done when it is done through others who are all doing the same thing. It is why you have found this website and joined this group. So it is not a selfish goal, but rather it is a goal for a social organization.

Of course, seeing yourself as a part of a respectable group, a group you can be proud of and which helps make you feel proud of yourself, is not easy. We all have our weaknesses, and some of these weaknesses are fatal not just literally, but fatal to our motivation and our will to keep going. We have a lot of work to do to acheive these goals. We all need to work together.

This is about the best advice I could give. Things only get far more complicated from here on out. The work of a philosopher is to think your way through to the best conclusions, and doing this when it comes to the deepest desires of the human heart is perhaps the hardest thing to do. It is also the most important thing.

I will just add that I will be creating my own group on Atheist Nexus which really concerns itself with just these problems. I would be glad to see any of you there. I think it will be called "Spiritual Atheism", or something like that. Or just look on my profile page to find out what I have been up to here. And feel free to message me directly. I hope I have been and can be of some help.

i am an ex muslim too and i would like to share my experience with you folks. i welcome all your comments because i really need them. i need some guidance and advice.

ok; i am a young man from Morocco 28 years old exactly.i have got to say that during all those years i abode by the teachings of Islam. i considered it as the only right religion and that any religion apart from it a mere delusion. i can dare and say that at some point of my life i was very religious too ; especially during time of crisis etc. ....

anyway all those years as a muslim weren't happy for me. i was all the time anxious .... it was a strange anxiety that came and went all time. sometimes i would keep on praying and reading the koran just to feel better. that would work sometimes but wouldn't most of the time. i was kinda afraid of something....maybe i was afraid of something my god wouldn't like....

sometimes when i committed sins i would directly repent and start feeling sad and regretful because i wasn't strong enough to fight the impulse or desire. To sum up i didn't have control over my life ; islam or religion in general was limiting my actionst thoughts and even my feelings ... it simply ruined my life ; and my professional life exactly because i didn't give 100 percent and i i always thought that god would be there to finish the 'thing' for me.

religion didn't answer my inner questions. by the way ; in almost any religion you aren't supposed to ask questions about god... we are told that those kind of questions were sins. well they aren't.

religion is full of contradictions ... and it makes your life miserable because you have always to relate all of your achievments and failures to the will of god. another thing ; no god ever answers our prayers even if you spend long hours praying " my case".

in islam nobody goes to heaven excepr for good muslims. the rest suffers in life by their disturbed soul and hard obstacles in life. they suffer also after death in hell for not being good muslims. those like me always according to islam who were once muslims and decided no to be anymore will have a more sever punishment because they know what islam is all about tatatata . to get all this out of my mind required from me so much time ;courage and free thinking.

now i really feel better ... i control my life. no more anxiety and this is the most important thing for me. only peace real and good peace.

my problem right now is that nobody knows about this... i don't intend to tell anyone right... i am supposed to be muli because we are born muslims... my parents and grandparents were... i was tought that at school ; home and society... i was brainwashed.. if people know that i am atheist now... some will laugh some will avoid me .. i may go to jail for this because it is considerd a crime in my country to be atheist if you were muslim before. how can i deal with this situation i really don't know... event my closest friends don't know....neither my family-